Monday, June 22, 2009

I know you self identify as a feminist, but let me tell you, saying you're going to "cunt-punch the bitch" isn't REMOTELY progressive at all.

It's not irony, just your weak excuse for saying something like that in a car full of feminists. Irony, when done right, creates a discordance between truth and an intentionally false statement. It's saying you hate ice cream while holding an ice cream cone and eating it.

It's not irony because you meant it. When sincerely talking about how much you didn't like the women in question, it's not irony to threaten sexual violence and verbally disparage her. It's not irony because you weren't being ironic, just offensive. Even so, violence against women is never funny and never to be tossed around lightly by a young man.

Calling yourself a feminist isn't a free pass to let whatever women-hating bile spew from your mouth. So until you start respecting women, both in word and action, stop self identifying as feminist. You're not helping.

8 comments:

It really bothers me when people use progressive labels to excuse their refusal to stop their non-progressive practices (like harmful language) and call it irony. IMO, it's worse when it comes from someone who takes on progressive labels because you expect them to know better.

Not that all progressives are perfect, but seriously? What he said was clearly intentional and not-thought out at best and malicious at the worst.

I told him I found it offensive and he couldn't say things like that while I was in the car, and then he tried the irony line. I think he's just young and not aware of how triggering something like that could be. Not that all older people are bastions of political correctness, either.